Sunday, January 4, 2009

Woof!

Today I've been practicing my barking. My cousins Bertie and Oliver do it a lot, especially at other dogs, and at noises, and at just everything, and I've got a lot of catching up to do if I want to be as good as them.

I started my barking practice this morning at the beach. We went to Williamstown Beach for a walk below the high-tide mark. I love it there, I ran all the way up to the far end of the beach, and all the way back down again. I only stopped to bark at a dog that was swimming and came up to say hello, and I also took a break to stare fixedly at the seagulls. There was a big tractor thing making the sand all flat, but I didn't pay any attention to that, I see bigger and noisier things like trucks and trams when we go for walks near my house.

My balcony is one of my favourite places. It's exactly Sasha-sized, and even though it's concrete right at the bottom, it's got grass on it for me to play on and pull apart. I like to pull it up and eat it. My human says I'm part Schnauzer and part Lawnmower. I'm not sure I know that second breed, but it must be good if I'm one of them.

I like to take my toys out there, and the other day when my human gave me some chicken necks for lunch, I snuck them out onto the balcony to eat.

I was out on the balcony this afternoon, and some pigeons flew overhead, so I barked at them. Then some leaves made a scratching noise on the pavement downstairs, so I barked at them too. And then some people went past, talking, so I barked at them. I also barked at the puppy in the reflection in the balcony door.

Then the man across the street started to practice his opera singing, and I didn't bark at him, but I gave my human a very concerned look.

A bit later I came inside and barked at my human. For some reason, she started clicking me and giving me a treat when I barked. She seems to want to encourage me to bark. She said something about training me to bark on command so then I won't bark when she doesn't tell me to. Whatever... as long as I get treats, I'll bark whenever she wants.